Trump hints U.S. should nix term limits as China's leader aims to be 'president for life'

President Trump made remarks about China's President Xi Jinping during a GOP fund-raiser at the Mar-a-Lago estate Saturday. (JIM WATSON/AFP/Getty Images)

Guests of President Trump's Mar-a-Lago estate laughed Saturday afternoon when Trump appeared to express envy that his Chinese counterpart could rule indefinitely if the nation decides to nix term limits.

The crowd burst into applause when Trump suggested the United States consider the same.

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President Xi Jinping "is a great gentleman and he's now president for life," Trump said during a GOP fund-raiser, according to audio obtained by CNN.

"And look, he was able to do that. I think it's great. Maybe we'll have to give that a shot someday," Trump added, prompting praise from the crowd.

Xi is poised to remove term limits as the leader of his country's Communist Party. (Jason Lee/REUTERS)

During the same speech, Trump praised Xi as the most powerful leader to rise to power in China during the past century. Xi, the 64-year-old head of the ruling Communist Party, is poised to shake up Chinese politics by signing off of the removal of two-term limits for presidents and vice presidents.

The decision this week threatens the constitutional amendment enacted by former Chinese leader Deng Xiaoping in 1982 to prevent another dictatorship, such Mao Zedong's decades-long rule that resulted in the bloody Cultural Revolution.

The Communist party announced a possible end to term limits on Feb. 25.